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Tag: app attach

MSIX Hero 1.0.16 – signed MSIX app attach scripts and more

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A new minor update of MSIX Hero is available. This build improves the experience of MSIX app attach (UI and command-line driven) and fixes a few spotted issues. The update is highly recommended.

Changes

  • App attach scripts are now digitally signed.
  • Because of the previous, the configuration of package(s) for app attach has been moved to a separate JSON file app-attach.json, which is then accessed by staging and registration scripts. In order to make adjustments (like changing the MSIX junction point path) edit the JSON file directly. Below is a typical file structure that is created (either from UI or from MSIXHeroCLI.exe):
  • All MSIX app attach scripts have now constant names (for example stage.ps1) and do not contain the name of the package anymore. This has the following benefits:
    • It is easier to run them manually by just typing a few letters in Terminal window
    • This is also now semantically correct, as the scripts are now effectively the same for all packages, since the configurable data has been moved to the JSON config.
  • The content of the scripts for app attach has been generally improved in terms of code formatting, and a missing dismount routine (also not present in templates on MSDN) has been added to the destage.ps1 script.
  • Staging script had previously duplicated curly braces, which could cause an error returned by mklink. The issue has been fixed in this version.
  • Speaking of mklink, its exit codes are now checked by the staging script. Non-zero exit code will break immediately.
  • The dialog for certificate extraction can now trigger self-elevation (UAC) in case the checkbox for trusted store is checked.
  • In the same wizard, a shield has been added to indicate possible elevation.

Download

The app will be updated automatically in a few hours if you installed it from app installer file. New users can download MSIX Hero from the Download page.

Download MSIX Hero (app installer)

Update impact

Here is a visual comparison and update impact analysis of MSIX Hero 1.0.14 -> 1.0.16 upgrade. You can get similar results by exploring the options in the Ribbon > Tools > Update impact analyzer.

Read more →

MSIX Hero 1.0.14 – extended CLI and bug-fixes

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Version 1.0.14 of MSIX Hero is now available for download. This version contains the following changes:

New command line verb appattach

Previously, creating VHD files for MSIX app attach was only possible interactively (with help of MSIX Hero UI). In this version, a new command line verb has been added to make it possible to automate this operation.

The new verb appattach has the following sample usage:

MSIXHeroCLI.exe appattach --package "C:\pkgs\MSIX-Hero.msix" --directory "C:\pkgs\VHD\MSIX-Hero" --extractCert --createScripts

Due to some internals, this command requires administrative privileges’. More information about CLI usage can be found in the following documentation page: Command Line Interface (CLI) Reference > Creating VHD for MSIX app attach (appattach)

Resolved issues

  • It was not possible to open .appinstaller files with UTF-8 BOM (Byte-Order-Mark). The issue has been fixed in this version.
  • If property SystemAppId was present in an opened YAML file, its value was lost on re-saving. Note that this value is valid according to the documentation, but returns validation error from winget and Azure pipelines from the official repository. This is why it is hidden in the MSIX Hero UI. Anyway, in this version any value of SystemAppId is preserved if present in the original file.
  • Winget validation (winget validate command) was not executed at the end of YAML export, if no Windows Terminal Preview was installed. In this build, the command is executed even if a standard stable version of terminal is installed.
  • Some APPX/MSIX manifests could not be parsed correctly. The problem was reported for Konica Minolta packages, but could potentially affect some more. In this version, parsing of these specific manifest files has been fixed.
  • Dependencies tab was empty for packages/manifests using older syntax for prerequisites (<Prerequisites />). In this version, the dependencies are shown correctly.
  • Log files in previous version could contained too many log entries for certificate validation. In this version, some verbose logs are not anymore of type INFO but of a more verbose DEBUG level.
  • YamlDotNet was missing in the About window, section Third-party software. It has been added in this version (great package by the way, kudos to contributors)

Download

The app will be updated automatically in a few hours if you installed it from app installer file. New users can download MSIX Hero from the Download page.

Download MSIX Hero (app installer)

Update impact

Last, but not least. Have you already tested how Update impact (a major highlight of version 0.9.0) works? Below is a comparison between MSIX Hero 1.0.5 and MSIX Hero 1.0.14. You can get similar results by exploring the options in the Ribbon > Tools > Update impact analyzer.

Read more →